Loading mechanism for heel-attaching machines



Apnl 5, 1938. N. E. GOUR LOADING MECHANISM FOR HEEL ATTACHING MACHINES Filed June 28, 19:57 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 E: Act}, I

4/7 We? I April 5, 193 8. Y N. E. GOUR 2,112,885

LOADING MECHANISM FOR HEEL ATTACHING MACHINES Filed June 28, 1957 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A/VE/VTUR Patented Apr. 5, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOADING MECHANISM FOR HEEL-ATTACH- ING MACHINES Application June 28, 1937, Serial No. 150,733

9 Claims.

This invention relates to heel-attaching machines and more particularly to mechanism there* in by which successive loads of nails are delivered to the inserting mechanism.

Heel-attaching machines of the general character of that disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,785,928, Benjamin, December 23, 1930, are in use, these machines being provided with movable nail-delivering devices actuated by clutch mechanism which is controlled by the operator through a hand-lever. The hand-levermovement causes the engagement of the clutch mechanism to efiect a delivery of nails to the work-supporting jack. An object of this invenl5 tion is to relieve the operator of such a separate delivery-controlling act and to make the loadermovement dependent upon the performance of another act, which is necessary for the control of the machine. To this end, with a member actu- 00 ated to exercise such control and with a reciprocatory nail-delivering device, as a loader-block and its actuating means, which means may include clutch mechanism governed as to its effect by a shiftable member, I combine a member connecting the operator-actuated member and the actuating mechanism and having two portions which are movable both together and independently of each other. This connecting member is preferably furnished by a lever having one arm acting upon a shiftable member and another arm joined to the operator-actuated member for movement thereby in opposite directions, said arms being capable of movement separately, together with means for joining the arms to move together.

The operator-actuated member may be a treadle by which the operation of the heeling machine proper is governed. As a result of this, the control of the machine may be caused to also govern the loading mechanism without additional effort on the part of the operator, and because of the independent movement of the lever-arms, a time may be chosen for producing the nail-delivering movement of the loading mechanism which will not interfere with the heel-nailing operation nor with the manipulation of the work by the operator.

A particular embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 being a top plan view of my improved controlling mechanism, parts being in section;

Fig. 2, an enlarged vertical section on the line II-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, a side elevation of the lower portion of the heeler-frame with the exposed elements of the controlling mechanism;

previously referred to, I have herein illustrated I the lower portion H] of the frame; the upper portion of the jack 12, upon which a shoe and a heel applied to its heel-seat are clamped by a pressure-head I3 for the insertion of the attaching nails; a treadle M, which, upon depression, first fulcrums at [8 to bring the pressure-head down upon the work and then turns upon a fulcrum Hi to cause the operation of the nail-inserting mechanism within the jack l2; and the nail-transferring or loading mechanism L. This loading mechanism comprises a loader-block 20 in which the nails are transferred to the jack before the application of the work thereto, a slide 22 by which the block is carried and reciprocated between its nail-receiving and the nail-delivering positions and actuating means for the slide. As to this actuating means, the slide has at its under side a rack 24 with which meshes a gear 26 surrounding a shaft 28 journaled horizontally across the frame. Fast upon the shaft is a disk 30, toward which the gear is'thrust by a spring 32 interposed between said gear and a collar 34 secured to the shaft. Between the gear and disk frictionmaterial 36 is shown. Rotatable continuously about the shaft by gearing 38 are two bevel-gears 40 and 42 facing each other and separated by a space in which a toothed clutch member 44 is movable along the shaft, it being capable of engaging at its opposite sides complemental clutchteeth of the two bevel-gears. When the member is in engagement with the gear 40, the loaderblock 20 is held back by its gear 26 in position to receive a load of nails, as through the footplate of a distributor. When the clutch member is carried into engagement with the gear 42, the gear 26 moves the loader-block over the jack l2 to deliver the nails thereto. In each instance, the frictional connection between the gear 26 and the disk 30 slips at the extremes of travel of the loader-block, so this may be held temporarily in its receiving and delivering positions. The shaft 28 is tubular, and through it passes a rod 46 carrying a pin 48 extending oppositely through slots 50, 5B in the shaft into the clutch member 44. A lever 52 drawn inwardly by a spring 54 acts upon the rod 46 to hold the clutch member to the left (Fig. 1), so the clutch is normally engaged to maintain the loader-block in its nail-receiving relation. A contact member 56 upon the lever 52 cooperates with a depression in the face of a cam-disk 58 secured to the shaft 28, this limiting each nail-delivering rotation of the shaft to 360.

Considering now the features peculiar to the present invention, passing through an opening in the frame near the end of the shaft 28 opposite that to which the cam-disk 58 is attached, is a horizontal guiding and supporting member 60 secured in place by a nut 6| threaded upon its inner extremity. Through an axial bore in this member extends a clutch-shifting rod 62 having secured near its inner end a yoke 64, the arms of which occupy a peripheral groove in a collar 66 surrounding and secured to the clutch member 44. At its outer end, the rod 62 is engaged by an arm 68 fast upon a short transverse shaft rotatable in an outer depending portion of the member 60. A screw 12 threaded through a vertical bracket 14 on the member 69 limits the outward movement of the arm and rod under the influence of the spring 54. Surrounding one extremity of the shaft 10 and arranged to turn about it is the hub of an arm 16, which is joined by a link 11 to the treadle l4 between the fulcra l6 and I8. The arms 68 and 16 furnish a bell-crank-lever, these two portions being capable of independent movement or of moving together as a unit, coupled by means which will now be described.

Pivoted upon the inner extremity 18 of the arm 16 is a controlling lever 80 carrying an upwardly projecting pin movable in an opening 84 in the hub of the arm 16. In the shaft 10 is a radial bore 86 containing a connecting plunger 88 urged outwardly by an expansion-spring 90. The outer extremity of the plunger may bear against the end of the projection 82, as appears in Fig. 4, or may contact with the wall of an arcuate groove 92 in the interior of the hub. In the first instance, the end of the plunger enters the opening 84 in the controlling lever, so the arms 68 and 16 are coupled to move together. The outward movement of the lever 88 about its. fulcrum under the influence of the spring 90 is limited by the engagement of its outer edge with a contact member 94 carried at the bottom of the support 60 and adjustable in position by being threaded therethrough. The plunger is caused to assume its second position in the groove 92 by the action of the contact member 94 upon the edge of the lever 80, which serves as a cam. At the outer portion of this edge is an arcuate surface 96, the center of ourvature of which is substantially at the axis of the shaft 10. When this is against the member 94, the lever 80 and its projection 82 are allowed to assume their extreme outward positions, with the plunger 88 connecting the arms 68 and 16. At the inner side of the surface 96 is a surface 98, shown as plane, which, toward the fulcrum of the lever, gradually recedes from the axis of the shaft 19. Engagement of the surface 98 with the contact member as the arm 16 is turned anticlockwise (Fig. 4), forces in the lever and its projection to the groove 92, so the plunger 88 is carried in beyond the opening 84, and the shaft 18 is uncoupledfrom the arm 16.

My improved mechanism acts in the following manner: The operator having placed a shoe with its heel upon the jack I2, this jack containing a previously supplied load of nails, depresses the treadle l4. This first turns about the fulcrum I8 to lower the pressure-head I3 and clamp the work. Initially, the loader-controlling elements are as illustrated in Fig. 5, the surface 98 of the lever 80 resting against the member 94, and the projection 82 being held into the groove 92 beyond the plunger 88 in an anticlockwise direction. Said plunger is also urged into the groove, its spring 99 holding its end against the wall. The arm 68 is against the stop 12 held by the rod 62, the clutch member 44 being in engagement with the gear 40 and the loader-block 29 held thereby in the rearward or nail-receiving relation. As the leversurface 98 travels along the member 94 during the depression of the treadle, the decrease in its spacing from the axis of revolution leaves the lever and its projection 82 free to shift outwardly, and when the projection reaches the plunger 88, said projection will so recede into the opening 84 that the plunger may enter it and lock the shaft 10 to the lever-arm 16. This is as shown in Fig. 4, the surface 96 of the lever now bearing against the contact member 94. After the application of pressure to the work by the head I3, the fulcrum of the treadle shifts to I6; the connections at l8 trip the driving clutch of the machine; and the inserting operation is performed, the load of nails contained in the jack being driven through the heel-seat of the jacked shoe into the heel. At this time, there may be a slight idle elevation of the link 11. The nailing being completed, the operator releases the treadle, which is raised by the usual spring, and the pressure-head is lifted to free the work. Because of the connections which have been established between the lever-arm I6 and the shaft '19 at the plunger 88, this shaft is rotated anticlockwise, forcing the other arm 68 of the lever against the rod 62 and shifting the clutch member 44 out of engagement with the gear 40 and toward the gear 42. When the member reaches the latter, this is coupled to the shaft 28 to produce rotation of the gear 26, and the delivery of a load of nails by the block to the jack for use in the succeeding operation. Because of the clearance between the clutch member 44 and the gear 42, and the time required for the loader-block .to move forward from its nail-receiving position to that above the jack, there is a brief period during which the operator has an opportunity to remove the heeled shoe from the jack, leaving this free for the delivery thereto of the load of nails contained in the block. Before the treadle and the rod 11 reach their upper extremes of movement, the cam-action of the lever-surface98 against the contact member 94 will have caused the projection 82 to force the end of the plunger 88 into the groove 92. The arm 68 will thereby be released from the arm 16, leaving the latter free to be moved further against the stop-screw 12 under the influence of the spring 54. This brings the elements to the relation illustrated in Fig. 5, ready for another operation. By the use of this mechanism, the operator not only has to give no direct consideration to the delivery of nails to the jack but also, becauseof the relatively short time which he has to take the work from the jack, receives a stimulus which materially increases his rate of production.

Having described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a heel-attaching machine, a member for actuation by an operator to control the machine,

a movable nail-delivering device, mechanism for actuating the nail-delivering device and including a member shiftable to change the direction of movement of said device, and a member for connecting the operator-actuated member and the shiftable member and having two portions which are movable both together and independently of each other.

2. In a heel-attaching machine, a member for actuation by an operator to control the machine, a reciprocatory nail-delivering device, mechanism for actuating the nail-delivering device and including a member shiftable to change the direction of movement of said device, a lever provided with two arms for connecting the operator actuated member to the shiftable member, said arms being capable of movement independently of each other, and means for joining the arms to move together.

3. In a heel-attaching machine, a member for actuation by an operator to control the machine, a reciprocatory nail-delivering device, mechanism for actuating the nail-delivering device and including a member shiftable to change the direction of movement of said device, a lever provided with two arms for connecting'the operatoractuated member to the shiftable member, said arms being capable of movement independently of each other, means for joining the arms to move together, and means for freeing the arms to permit one to remain at rest while movement of the other continues.

4. In a heel-attaching machine, a treadle for controlling the machine, a reciprocatory loaderblock, clutch mechanism through which the loader-block is reciprocated, a movable clutchshifting member, a lever having an arm acting upon the shifting member and an arm joined to the treadle, and connecting means movable with one arm and into and out of connecting engagement with the other.

5. In a heel-attaching machine, a treadle for controlling the machine, a reciprocatory loaderblock, clutch mechanism through which the loader-block is reciprocated, a movable clutchshifting member, a lever having an arm acting upon the shifting member and an arm joinedto the treadle, connecting means movable with one arm and into and out of connecting engagement with the other, and a controlling member movable on said other member and engaging the connecting means.

6. In a heel-attaching machine, a treadle for controlling the machine, a reciprocatory loaderblock, clutch mechanism through which the loader-block is. reciprocated, a movable clutchshifting member, a lever having an arm acting upon the shifting member and an arm joined to the treadle, connecting means movable with one arm and into and out of connecting engagement with the other, a controlling member movable on said other arm and engaging the connecting means, and a relatively fixed member by which the controlling member is moved.

'7. In a heel-attaching machine, a treadle for controlling the machine, a reciprocatory loaderblock, clutch mechanism through which the loader-block is reciprocated, a movable clutchshifting member, a lever having an arm acting upon the shifting member and an arm joined to the treadle, connecting means movable with one arm and into and out of connecting engagement with the other, a controlling member movable on said other arm and engaging the connecting means, the controlling member being provided with a cam-surface, and a relatively fixed member in contact with which the cam-surface moves.

8. In a heel-attaching machine, a treadle for controlling the machine, a reciprocatory loaderblock, clutch mechanism through which the loader-block is reciprocated, a movable clutchshifting member, a rotatable shaft, an arm fast upon the shaft for engagement with the clutchshifting member, an arm free to turn upon the shaft and joined to the treadle, a spring-plunger movable in one of the arms, the other arm having an opening which the plunger may enter, and a controlling lever fulcrumed upon the arm having the opening and provided with a portion for engagement with the plunger through said opening.

9. In a heel-attaching machine, a treadle for controlling the machine, a reciprocatory loaderblock, clutch mechanism through which the loader-block is reciprocated, a movable clutchshifting member, a rotatable shaft, an arm fast upon the shaft for engagement with the clutchshifting member, an arm free to turn upon the shaft and joined to the treadle, a spring-plunger movable in one of the arms, the other arm having an opening which the plunger may enter, a controlling lever fulcrumed upon the arm having the opening and provided with a portion for engagement with the plunger through said opening, and a screw with which the controlling lever contacts.

NORMAN EARL GOUR. 

